You might possibly have spotted – and you might not – a shiny new blog roll link in the sidebar on the right. It’s still a work in progress, but I just thought it might be handier to have a dedicated page of links to sites we love, rather than having them half way down the page in the sidebar.

Any way, just wanted to ask you all if you have any suggestions for links I should add to the list? Non-Firebagger sites, needless to say, and whatever other newsie places you think are worth including.

Thank you!

Meanwhile, ginormous thanks to UT, LL and LovelyPlains for their splendiferous posts today.

well…I DID get lots of compliments on my spiffy pants today at work:) And I also had many kidlets run up to me and tell me that I won a prize for Teacher Appreciation Week:) I said, ” Is it a trip to Cozumel?” They looked at me like I had 4 heads.

You’re too cute! And thanks from me for all you do to teach our children well. We would be NOWHERE without great teachers like you. So thanks for your care and your dedication to the profession. Cheers!

Chips, this goes deep …. Snow Patrol, The Police (along with Elton, Blondie ….) their music is so embedded in my being …. very much the way Cold Play is … and others … not just because of their respective, exceptional music, but because of the countless times I listened to their tunes while engrossed in doing stuff that is the reason I’m here.

The infusion of music, not as background, but as an essential element in the tasks one is passionate about accomplishing, has been a fortunate experience throughout my life.

A bit of useless trivia, but “our song” is Light My Fire. Yep, the Summer of Love. 45 years married last New Year’s Eve. And our contribution to that summer love is now 44 years old. She’s beautiful, bad taste in men, but hey – nothing we can do about that.
Guess it runs in the family. She was 17 when my oldest grandchild was born, I was 35 – yikes! He’s biracial (thank you Prince and that Little Red Corvette). Gorgeous man now. Just wish he’d call his Mimi more often. Sigh. Brown children tend to be beautiful, in more ways than one.

Considering the United States’ dismal record on infant mortality, it seems to follow that advancing programs to support youth who may become pregnant, as well as expanding women’s access to preventative health services like contraception and prenatal and maternal care, would be a top priority for both women’s health groups and pro-life groups. But that hasn’t exactly been the case in the United States. Intent on attacking family planning services as well as abortion, anti-choice activists have successfully waged a war against some of the same health resources that could help the U.S. prevent infant deaths at rates closer to other industrialized nations.
Many far-right abortion opponents have fought hard against Obamacare, which helps expand women’s access to gender-specific health care services like birth control and prenatal check-ups, because they claim that insurance coverage for contraception is a violation of religious liberty. And Republican lawmakers have continued to target Planned Parenthood, advancing measures to defund the national women’s health organization even at the expense of the low-income women who rely on those clinics for their primary care. At the education level, anti-abortion activists often fight against comprehensive sexual health resources in public schools — particularly when those services are provided by Planned Parenthood — even though those programs have been proven to do a better job at preventing unplanned pregnancies than abstinence-only curricula.
Instead of focusing efforts on policy solutions to help lower the nation’s infant mortality rate, the right-wing has most recently been fixated on the high-profile trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, accused of killing live babies in his illegal Philadelphia-area clinic. Declaring Gosnell’s crimes as proof that all late-term abortion services represent “infanticide,” abortion opponents have raised alarm over what they perceive as a widespread human rights issue.

DF, in the US the so-called ‘right to life’ movement is turned upside down and does everything in its power to destroy health and life. There is no reason on this planet that the wealthiest country on earth should have a ‘dismal’ record on infant mortality except for the rancid hatred and prejudice on the far right. It’s a poison deep within the blood of the nation and it will either be destroyed or cured. Too many children are dying because of ignorance and ideology and not one single person on the right has ever spoken up about it.

It was destiny, bound to happen! T-Pain, call your office……you have lost your *throne of auto-tune* What a wonderful way to call it a night! Thanks so much Chips, really honored and humbled to be included in your blogroll. Your generosity is boundless.

LP, so sorry to hear you have strep throat! You are probably working so hard with little sleep. I know it’s finals week, but please take good care of yourself and get well soon. I also hope your Daddy is feeling much better.

Hello everyone!
What a marvelous birthday!
How could it be anything but when the wonderful post of “Marevlous Michelle” started the day? It ends with “Dead Giveaway.”
Life is a gift…..I am so grateful to be alive!

They’ve lost sight of the real issue: Sanford was an elected official who abandoned his responsibilities during a crisis to have an out of country rendezvous with his mistress. The actual affair is between him and his wife (and Bill Clinton, whom Sanford roundly criticized at the time of his dalliance).

Bob, there is some TRUTH in what you and AMK are saying, but I highly doubt that the results tonight in SC would have been different for any other Democrat in this heavily gerrymandered Congressional district. On the other hand, tonight’s results have exposed the hypocrisy of the party of the so called “values voters.” Mark Sanford is yet another GOP poster child, joining David Vitter, that makes a mockery of the claim that right wing Republican voters, unlike Liberal Democratic voters, vote on the basis of high moral values, and elect candidates with high moral values.

Yup. If she was gonna lose anyway in this ridiculously gerrymandered district, she should have stood proud for health care for millions of Americans. And gee, maybe a few more Dem’s would have been excited about the race.

Remember that guy Jarrod or somebody who lost the weight by eating at Subway every day? He turned that into a career advertising for Subway. Maybe Charles Ramsey can be the new advertising king in commercials … but you are probably right, it’ll be a lifetime free pass to any McDonald’s in the country.

Good Morning…..could someone explain to me…..Charleston, Isle of Palms, Mt. Pleasant, Kiawah, etc; are no longer just SC people…I would say there are about as many people who have moved there from other states as there are South Carolinians …I means it’s hard to find a glass of sweet tea there anymore ; )…I would say you would be hard pressed to even find many SC in the town of Charleston …were they all Republicans who moved there or did Dems just stay home?….I think I am just shocked and would have never thought Charleston would have voted Republican any more than I would think Chapel Hill, NC would. I know PBO lost there(race) but I just thought a woman would have had a better showing against a man who obviously unzips his pants and his brains fall out.